s u m m e r 2 0 0 4 n o. 2 1 8
p a g e o n e
PROPOSAL Imagine spending a few days at a house offering a stunning view of a lake down below with your family, a small group from your parish, or by yourself. In warmer months, when sound carries, you might hear the bell calling you to join the worship in the abbey church. With your help, this scene could be the next chapter in the story of St. Gregory's Abbey. Let's take a brief look at the story that could lead to this next chapter. In 1946, when Dom Paul Severance and Dom Francis Bacon bought the farmhouse that became St. Gregory's Priory, there was a small summer cottage down the dirt road that ran through what is now the lawn between the main monastery buildings and St. Denys guesthouse. The monks established a friendly relationship with these neighbors and were rewarded by being granted use of this cottage at the times when the owners were not staying there. In 1951, the cottage was put up for sale, and the monks purchased it, dedicating the house to St. Benedict. In 1952, the community came to an agreement with oblate Anna Ridgway Cross, who had taken the oblate name of Sister Scholastica, that she be allowed to live the rest of her days in that house, after which use of the house would revert to the community. Sister Scholastica enlarged the small cottage at her own expense, more than doubling the floor space. The additions included a large bedroom, a bathroom and a spacious sewing room, where she made liturgical vestments of high quality, some of which are still treasured by the community today. When Sister Scholastica died in 1967, St. Benedict's became a guest house for people who wanted a solitary retreat, a place where a family could stay, or space where a church youth group could "camp out" with sleeping bags on the floor. St. Benedict's has served these functions well up to the present day, although maintaining the building has been a continuous challenge. We are at the point now where age has caught up with the house. We don't know how old the original cottage is, but its stone foundation suggests that it was most likely built before the turn of the twentieth century. The structure for the old part of the house is getting weaker to the point that every year we raise the question with our property manager whether or not the house is likely to be usable for at least one more year. Among the most serious problems that our property manager lists are: 1) dry rot in the floor joists which raises worries about the floor's collapsing some day, 2) the need for a new roof, 3) animals of the neighborhood have gnawed on much of the exterior wood and 4) the kitchen plumbing is breaking down, a failure which would be a serious inconvenience for anyone cooking a meal, I should think. If we wish to continue the guest ministry St. Benedict's house has been used for, we have to do more than fix a weak spot here and there. St. Benedict's house was alive and well, if a bit shaky at times, when I joined St. Gregory's in 1972. At that time, Abbot Benedict was putting the final touches on a hermitage that he had designed and built, with the help of a few donors, to provide members of the community a place for solitary retreats. Perched on top of a hill that overlooks the lake from the northwest, the glass front offered an attractive view of the lake that was conducive to prayer and contemplation. The hermitage has been particularly useful for monks making the customary retreat before major events such as a novice clothing or taking monastic vows. In its earlier years, the hermitage was used quite a lot. The higher number of monks in the community was a factor in its use. There was even a period when a monk would be put on the weekly work list as the week's "hermit," and he would spend the week at the hermitage. The present smaller number of monks in the community has made extra retreats at the hermitage impractical, and in the last ten years or so, the building has received very little use. Although it is a much younger building than St. Benedict's house, the hermitage has reached an age where it is unusable unless it receives extensive and costly repairs such as putting in a new water heater, a new stove and replacing the cedar shakes on the roof and outside walls. Confronted with the question of what would be the best stewardship of these two buildings, we had some community discussions last January. We came to two conclusions: Trying to maintain St. Benedict's and the hermitage would not be cost-effective because yet more costly repairs would still be needed in the near future, and current patterns of use suggest that having one building that combined the functions of St. Benedict's and the hermitage would be much more efficient than trying to maintain two separate structures. The proposal that emerged out of these conclusions was to tear down the hermitage in the near future and build on its site a guest house of approximately the same size as St. Benedict's. This house will perpetuate the ministry that St. Benedict's has offered for more than thirty-five years and also will be available for monks' retreats. Current plans call for a large main room (28' x 12') with a kitchen and dining area in one corner. There will be three bedrooms and two bathrooms with one bedroom and one bathroom equipped for handicapped use. Being built of brick, the house will be solid and it should make unappetizing snack food for its furry neighbors. Its location over the lake should make it a highly attractive spot for the guests who will use it. With this house built, we will tear down St. Benedict's. Those of you who have been following our building activities the past few years know that we also have hopes of putting in place the final piece of the new monastery by replacing the old farmhouse where the library used to be. We retain this hope but we feel that our outreach to guests makes this proposed new guest house a much greater priority, and that is why we have turned our attention in this direction. It is our hope to be able to commit ourselves to this project in early September and break ground the following April. Our contractor's estimate calls for $150,000 for building the house. Demolition of the hermitage and excavation at the site are estimated at an additional $10,000, giving us a total of $160,000 for this project. With your help, we can meet this price and build the new guest house. If it is at all possible for you to send any money above what you send for normal expenses, the community and the many retreatants who will use this house will be deeply grateful. Gifts intended for our building plans need to be clearly marked so that we can apply them for that intention. --Abbot Andrew
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